The Passing Of Grail

I came home last night, it was late and I checked up on the gang, and everything was fine. Early this morning I heard a splishthud, and i knew Grail was trying to jump out of the container (they do get a bit high when they jump out of the water) and this morning, he was laying on his side. he is wrapped in a bag, in my freezer. today, wasn't a good day to do burial, it was brutaly hot and the ground is packed hard. I am hoping for rain tonight to soften the ground, then the two will be together again. For them to go, within a week of eachother, it could have been for age- I don't know- I do know they would have been four this year, and I don't know how long they live. I still have the catfish in the tank, he is huge, and the only option that I have with him is to put him in a smaller tank in the larger tank and - well, do something with the tank- perhaps a teraerium- or a mini greenhouse- untill he goes, but- I don't know how long he will live. I had thought about- getting more- but- that will wait. Not now. not for a while. There are things that I have to do first- and I may not have fish in the tank for a long time. there is the danger of a leak, the need for filtration, and I haven't figured out how to make it run with out blowing around the little fish. I have photos, of them. somewhere- and I am glad that I took them when I did. I am going to put them next to a ruler and know for sure how big they were- I have to know that. and then, time will tell. I had thought- a little village inside with the plants, you know, the ceramic things, but then I thought, more places for the bugs to hide, can't have that.I will miss them. I know thats silly, but I had them a long time.they were a pair. and perhaps, with Iris gone, Grail died of lonelyness. as smart as they are, its possible. they are together now, at peace. Kath

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Sorry to hear about your fish. I knew a family once that had their oscar for seven years. He was funny~even thought the aquarium was covered, occasionally he would still jump against it and get out. Occasionally they would buy him goldfish to eat; he loved them. He was at least a foot long. You could put your fingers near the top and he would try to bite them~I imagine because he thought you were food.

I had two Siamese Fighting Fish for almost three years, and although they don't do too much, I actually missed them when they died~one two weeks after the other. I still have the acquarium set up; just haven't felt like replacing them yet. But I miss them.

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Sorry to hear about your fish. I knew a family once that had their oscar for seven years. He was funny~even thought the aquarium was covered, occasionally he would still jump against it and get out. Occasionally they would buy him goldfish to eat; he loved them. He was at least a foot long. You could put your fingers near the top and he would try to bite them~I imagine because he thought you were food.

I had two Siamese Fighting Fish for almost three years, and although they don't do too much, I actually missed them when they died~one two weeks after the other. I still have the acquarium set up; just haven't felt like replacing them yet. But I miss them.

Thank you. Both Grail and Iris will be missed.

I measured Grail, he was 10 and a half inches long, and his head was over two inches wide, he weighed over two pounds.

It didn't rain yesterday, so, I have to figure out how to make the ground soft (Last time I soaked the ground a while but I need to go deeper so the neighborhood cats don't dig up the two bodies.

I went on line- and the oscar *can* live up to 12 yrs. but they don't have any particular rule of thumb. I know with out compititon, the cat fish will get very big, (I have seen them grow up to 18 inches, and while mine is about 12 inches, I don't have any nets big enough for him and he is too big for the soup pot.

I had thought about putting him in the ten gallon, but he is too big for that-

I have questions about- fish/ mammals. A mammal gives birth to live babies, but the duck bill platapus lays eggs. Fish lay eggs, but the whale has a live birth, as does the Molly & Sword tail.

Mammals have to keep their body temp up, but fish can be frozen, then come back. But they have frozen and thawed hampsters, and they have come back as well.

If you park in a driveway, why do you drive on a park way?

if silverware is made from silver, what is table ware made of ? or for that matter, flat ware? what is a flat?

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I was serious about the soup pot. I use it and the net to capture the fish to transfer them to a larger container (the plastic tote)

I buried both of them today, and planted the rose bush. I am hoping that the animals won't dig them up- it was hard, to, unwrap them from the plastic bags and then look at them, and I measured Iris, she was smaller- just under ten inches, but her head was 2 inches to Grails 2&1/2 width. I don't know what I am going to do really. Buying more fish with out the filters working properly, not having the money to replace the filters- the light doesn't work now, so thats a replacement- I paid off my credit card so that I only owe on the bills, and on the morgage. I don't know, if getting more would be a good thing, or if I should go smaller - or- well, just wait and see if the cat fish will die from what ever is in the water.

It could have been the water. We use river water, and while its filtered etc there is no clorein added to it in large amounts, nor is there florides. I can, and have taken tap water and as long as it was the right temp, just tossed the fish in and they were fine.

I know, I could probably call the fish store and ask if they would do a buy back for credit (which they will because people like the larger fish) and maybe get some ferret supplys with the money.

but- I don't know if I can do that.

I know I need to get more dirt, (for the roses) and clean the tank, regardless of what happens, I need to do that. I am in the process of redoing my home. I know it sounds, weird, but, its something that I need to do. I don't have much, really, more books than anything, and this heat has made it difficult to dive into things. The heat is to break tomorrow. digging in 94* temp wasn't fun, if even in the shade.

I thought about doing an autopsy on my fish. I have the stuff to do it from biology class, and it would have been interesting to see if I could have found anything with my microscope- but- I couldn't do that. I have a friend who is a vet, and maybe she would have, but its best where they are, and I know the rose bush that I planted over it will do well- its called "royal Highness." https://www.unity.edu/sari/rosegarden/ry.html